Growth Study On Agenda

Community Forum At Middle School

TOLLAND — Land use outpaced population growth in Tolland 2.5 to 1 during the past two decades requiring major investments in schools, roads and sewers, a statewide study shows.

The 2003 report, ``Connecticut Metropatterns,'' is scheduled to be discussed at a community forum tonight.

Guest speaker Robert Santy is expected to explain the findings of the report, which studied the tax base, poverty rate, educational system and land use and several other factors in the state's 169 cities and towns.

The report assigned each city and town to one of six categories: central cities, stressed, at-risk, fringe-developing, bedroom-developing and affluent.

Thirty towns, including Tolland, Ellington, Avon and Mansfield, were classified as ``fringe-developing.'' Population grew in these towns at twice the rate of the state in the 1980s and 1990s.

The largest category, bedroom-developing or ``prototypical'' suburbs, had 57 towns, including Bolton, Andover and Hebron.

The Office of Urban Affairs of the Archdiocese of Hartford commissioned the study and formed a coalition, called the CenterEdge Project, to educate the public about issues raised in the report, particularly the social and economic disparities created by the state's long-term pattern of development.

The way to avoid or reverse these effects is greater consistency in land use and zoning regulations from town to town and less dependence on property taxes, said Santy, president of the Regional Growth Partnership, an economic development corporation serving Greater New Haven, and a member of the CenterEdge Project.

The project has held similar forums in more than half the towns in the state, Santy said. Resident concerns included higher taxes and more dense suburban areas.

``Really, what we're saying is have more density in one area of town so you can have more open space in another area of town,'' Santy said. ``It's a different approach.''

The project will stop sending speakers to information forums after this fall, Santy said. The next phase, advocating for policy change at the state level, is expected to take four to six years. An organization called ``1000 Friends of Connecticut'' has begun asking lawmakers to adopt smart growth principles, preserve farmland and reform property tax.

The Tolland Canton Community Forum will be held tonight from 7 to 9 in the multi-purpose room at Tolland Middle School, at 96 Old Post Road. It is sponsored by the Northern Connecticut Land Trust, Tolland Clergy Association and the local planning and zoning commission.